Jonathan Mark Hopkins and Teri Jean Hopkins

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IN THE UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEW BERN DIVISION
IN RE:
JONATHAN MARK HOPKINS and
TERRI JEAN HOPKINS,
Debtors. 	Case No. 06-03597-8-JRL
Chapter 7
______________________________________________________________________________
ORDER
The matter before the court is the debtors’ motion to set aside the judgment and avoid the
lien of Lease Acceptance Corp.
Section 522(f)(1) allows the debtor to “avoid the fixing of a lien on an interest of the debtor
in property to the extent that such lien impairs an exemption to which the debtor would have been
entitled under subsection (b) . . . .” 11 U.S.C. § 522(f)(1). Because exemptions are determined on
the petition date, a lien must ordinarily exist on the petition date to impair an exemption. In re
Pettaway, Case No. 02-02619-8-JRL (Bankr. E.D.N.C. Mar. 10, 2004).
The debtors assert that Lease Acceptance Corp. obtained a money judgment in the amount
of $10,844.67 against the debtors on January 6, 2004 in Craven County, North Carolina. According
SO ORDERED.
SIGNED this 07 day of March, 2007.
________________________________________
J. Rich Leonard
United States Bankruptcy Judge
____________________________________________________________
Case 06-03597-8-JRL Doc 31 Filed 03/07/07 Entered 03/07/07 15:05:16 Page 1 of 2

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to the debtors’ petition and schedules, the debtors do not own real property in Craven County to
which a judgment lien would attach. While the debtors claim that the judgment impairs there
exemption in a trailer and personal property, there is no indication that this property was levied
upon. As the judgment was unsecured on the petition date, the discharge injunction has invalidated
the underlying debt and deprived the judgment of any legal effect.
Based on the foregoing, the court denies the motion to set aside judgment and avoid lien.
End of Document
Case 06-03597-8-JRL Doc 31 Filed 03/07/07 Entered 03/07/07 15:05:16 Page 2 of 2